"So, this is Meridian?"

Scott had come down the cargo bay's boarding ramp and immediately directed his attention toward the waiting Quarian in the green and black-colored environmental suit. The Pathfinder cocked an eyebrow and warily inquired, "Is there something wrong?"

Zeemi crossed her arms under her medium-sized bust and slowly shook her concealed head. She walked in stride with Pathfinder Ryder as they started through the port city.

"No, no! There's nothing wrong. It's a beautiful planet. I never anticipated a Dyson-sphere like this to exist! My people have never had the prospect of harboring a world within a massive shielding system. Rannoch was under Geth occupancy so... the idea was obviously thrown out the window."

Ryder's eyebrow lifted to show his curious expression.

"If you don't mind my asking; how does a Quarian have a temper worse than a Krogan? And, more importantly, why didn't you accept the Pathfinder authority?"

Zeemi slumped her shoulders, letting her arms come down and dangle beside her hips. She expelled a heavy sigh in her answer, "I'm the way I am because it's how things turned out to be.. I don't need to bore you with the details." Zeemi heavily shrugged her shoulders and added, "And I didn't want the authority to begin with."

Scott made a gradual shake of his head in disagreement, "I don't believe that. The others looked up to you. You are a natural leader."

"If you're trying to convince me to take the Pathfinder title, you can forget about it. I'm NOT going to!"

Ryder waved his hands into the air into a surrendering gesture, "Okay, okay! I'll drop it. I'll pick someone else and let Tann know." He lowered his arms to his sides and smirked nervously to himself.

Zeemi soothed, "Good. Besides, I prefer shooting at things to take my aggression out on. Like those fucking Bosh'tet Kett!" Zeemi cursed under her breath.

"What happened exactly when the Kett arrived?"

Zeemi stopped in her stride and fully faced into the Pathfinder's direction. She huffed another deep sigh, "Our Ark had finally come out of Dark Space and once upon entering into the Andromeda cluster the Kett flagship established a communication with us.. it was like they were anticipating our arrival. They threatened to shoot at the Keelah Si'yah if we didn't comply to their demands... Which meant that they wanted to board our ship and stir up shit with us. I wasn't going to put up with any more of that fucking shit to be honest. Our people had their troubles already during the long journey with the Batarians and Vorcha. I told the Bosh'tet Kett what I really thought of them and made the command to rev up the engines to make a warp jump... not in that order, of course. Missiles were launched at our Ark before we were able to escape... The ship sustained heavy damage but it was manageable enough to allow us to get a safe distance away before the systems decided to have a melt down."

"You made a blind warp jump? That would have been suicide if your Ark landed in the middle of an asteroid belt or on a planet!"

Zeemi shrugged, "Hey, we made it, that's all I cared about... but then I realized how much deeper shit we were going to be in if the other Arks had also received the same greeting or might have been destroyed.. That's why we didn't want to be found in case we sent out the distress call to the wrong people - The Kett specifically. We couldn't face another assault, so, we lied low until we could get enough repair work done... and you saw how that was going. Cryo Bay HAD to be our priority, otherwise, the point of the journey would have been obviously pointless if everyone in stasis died. Valinn initialized the distress signal and we all hoped that we would be found by someone who didn't want to kill us. Our ship's systems were on the verge of collapse and without SAM Node the upkeep of the repair work was very difficult on the lot of us who were brought out of stasis. The sleepers' lives depended on us... It.. it was a hard reality to face when countless lives became my responsibility."

"But you pulled through, Zeemi. You faced up to the challenges and brought the Ark into harbor with as many lives as you could save. That's what I call a victory."

"It's what your people call dumb luck, Ryder, and you obviously have a LOTof it. The viability you have brought for the golden worlds was remarkable! I'm astounded by how a mere human was able to pull off such the success to turn Andromeda around. Although, the Kett are not completely gone."

Scott softly sighed, "Yeah, that's going to be a tough one. There's more of them out there and they have entire galaxy under their regime. They're bound to send more this way after finding out that their Archon was defeated. It's only a matter how long we have until they send in an armada."

Zeemi quickly shook her head and made point, "Sam has allowed me to upload the Kett's data information to have a look over it. I'm not entirely sure about how accurate the data is that Sky retrieved from the Kett flagship."

The human man cocked his eyebrow and hinted suspicion, "You believe Sky supplied false information?"

The Quarian shook her helmet again and explained, "No, no. I'm not accusing Sky, I'm talking about the Kett inputting misinformation to throw us into aloof. There's no possibly way that the Kett would attempt the feat to make a counter attack on the Milky Way with their current forces having sustained the critical scale of casualties. What if it's a rouse or something to redirect our focus onto the Milky Way galaxy instead of thinking about the current state of Andromeda? It's possible that whoever this Primus is may be leading us with false information in order to regain this galaxy under Kett control..."

Pathfinder Ryder gaped into the expression of realization.

"Oh, fuck! You could be onto something, Zeemi! I understand this deceit tactic all too well. Troops are deliberately led with false information and sent into the wrong direction while the enemy forces are sent after the intended target to claim an easy victory. We need to inform Hayjer as soon as possible."

Sam's voice spurred over Ryder's opened communicator, "Pathfinder, shall I send this information to Pathfinder Lumont Hayjer?"

Scott started for an answer but the Quarian swiftly shook her head and injected, "No! NO! Don't send any information to anyone! That's a bad idea!"

The human Pathfinder displayed a serious expression and protested, "What's so bad about letting Hayjer know the Kett's ulterior motive? We can trust Pathfinder Hayjer."

Zeemi offered clarification, "This may be another one of the Kett's trickery tactics, Ryder. Opening communication channels leaves us in the open for the Kett to trace our signals and discover that we may have found out their plan. They might be anticipating our every move if there's a rat in the network of information."

Ryder began for an objection, "What the fuck are you talking about? Hayjer wouldn't have any reason to leak information to the Kett-"

Zeemi cursed, "Bosh'tet! I'm not talking about Pathfinder Hayjer! It could be anyone that struck up a deal and may be making transmissions with the Kett at scheduled intervals. The Kett are in a desperate situation and when there's desperate times they are a LOT more dangerous. They may very well be working to have us become suspicious of each other to try to pry our alliances apart, easy pickings, basically.. It brings me to wonder if the Kett have a base world that we don't know about."

"A base world? We've scanned every planet and we have taken their main bases that were stationed on some of the golden worlds. Like Voeld and Eos."

The Quarian crossed her arms under her bust and continued to explain, "You are not thinking outside of the galaxy, Ryder. It's possible another station like the Khi Tasira exists or an undiscovered world may be out of Sam's scanning range where the Kett have established solid ground before they had began their invasion. Our scanning range remains only within the Heleus Cluster and unable to transmit through the Scourge's dark energy signature. There's possibility that an uncharted system lies on the outskirts of this galaxy and isn't able to be scanned if it's hiding behind a Scourge cloud... Did you actually follow the trail to where the flagship was going when it left Andromeda with you on board?"

Scott raised a suspicious look and earnestly asked, "And why haven't you accepted the Pathfinder authority? You're a genius, Zeemi! I didn't really think about that idea before. I'll have to let Hayjer know about this when we return to the Nexus."

Zeemi suggested, "Don't tell him everything yet. Meet with him in person on the station and schedule a rendezvous point to another location. The Nexus is a big place to hide a rat."

Pathfinder Ryder sighed, nodding in agreement, "Andromeda is also a big place to hide a numerous amount of rats. This isn't the first time that someone gave classified information to the Kett. I aided an Angara named Ari Veszek in the search for the truth behind the initial outlet of information exchanged to the Kett. My team and I discovered Kett sources of data stating that there were Angaran spies who worked with the Kett to share classified intel and documentation that the Kett were able to use to gain the upper hand. I told Ari to hold onto this until the day that the Angara were ready to hear it..."

"That's going to lead to bigger problems. If you want to keep an alliance with the Angara-" Zeemi became interrupted as the Asari medical officer's voice injected over the communications receiver, "Scott? Are you there?"

Ryder responded, "I'm here, Lexi."

Lexi's voice hinted an earnest sound, "Remember that discussion we were having? You need to come right away. It's important. You know where to find me."

Scott acknowledged in a response, "I'll be right there, Lexi."

Zeemi tilted her helmet to the side as if to show her puzzlement and gave worry, "Is everything alright?"

Pathfinder Ryder made a single nod and supplied, "Yes, I'll catch up with you later, Zeemi." He briefly waved and suddenly whirled around redirecting his attention forward to make a swift sprint through the city. Ryder weaved his way through the many crowds until coming upon the location of the crashed landing site of Ark Hyperion. Scott passed under the civilian access entry point and started his way through the starship toward the Transport Station, using the transit to travel to the Cryo Bay area within the great-sized starship.

Once taking upon the sight of her brother emerging from the transit station's opening doorways Sara beckoned with excitement, "Over here, Scott!" The human woman stood at the other end of the empty medical recovery room and eagerly waved one of her arms to deter Scott's attention toward the stasis pod chamber. "What took you so long? You know what.. never mind! Hurry up!"

The Pathfinder rushed between the empty medical tables toward his sibling's location and together raced with Sara into the stretched corridor. The Asari doctor and Sky were both patiently waiting in front of the Cryo Bay's Stasis Pod Revival Station.

Scott and Sara slowed their pace and stopped together before the Asari medical officer. Sky had taken a step back to allow the siblings to approach the stasis pod laying upon its backside within the locking mechanism of the Revival Station.

Lexi looked between the twins with a broadening smile, "Here she is, Scott and Sara. Elizabeth Reilly."

Sara firstly came forward, outstretching one of her hands to place her palm onto the smooth surface of the stasis pod. She whispered in a voice filled with anticipation trying to hold composure, "I can't wait to see you again, mom." The human woman slowly dropped her hand away, bringing it down to the side of her hip and formed both hands into clenched fists.

Scott showed a worried look toward Lexi and nervously asked, "No one else knows about this, right?"

Sam's robotic voice provided immediate reply, "I have withheld the information from the Ark Hyperion's data files, including Nexus records, by your request, Pathfinder."

"Good." Scott took in a deep breath and slowly released a nervous-sounding sigh, "Alright! Let's get mom out of there." Pathfinder Ryder raised an anxious look up to Sky and implied in earnest sound, "Are you ready, Sky?"

Sky acknowledged with a brief nod, "I have the Nano-nites in standby mode. They have been preprogrammed to target the AEND Neuro Degenerative Disorder and will commence the repair operation once injected into Ellen Ryder's body."

Sara whispered under her breath, "We finally have the cure to save mom.. I can't believe this is really happening."

The artificial intelligence announced to the group, "Commencing Stasis Pod shut down. Activating thawing process. Life signs are detected with minor brain activity. Internal organs are regaining functionality, pulse rate steadily increasing. Brain wave lengths are holding at the unconscious level."

The Asari expressed a firm stare up to Sky and implied firmly, "We need the Nano-nites to be instructed with the correct repairing sequence. Make absolutely sure-"

Ryder whipped his head into the Asari's direction and gently scolded, "Don't worry, Lexi, Sky's got this. Mom is going to be alright." He looked down to the stasis pod again and repeated in a murmur, "Mom is going to be alright."

Sam stated calmly, "The Stasis Pod shut down sequence is deactivated, thawing process is complete. Ellen Ryder remains in a state of unconsciousness and will not become aware of our presence. I shall initialize the stasis pod's opening sequence."

The sealing systems carefully released with a loudly hiss escaping from the breaking seal. The surface cover slowly raised away from the stasis pod's framework before sliding away to the top side of the pod and settled into an upright position. The seconds seemed to last into eternal moments before the stasis pod unveiled the human woman contained within. The natural signs of progression distinguished the woman's age by the crow's feet forming at the corners of her closed eyes with few forehead lines high above her arched eyebrows. Very faint grey-colored streaks coursed through Ellen Ryder's shortened dark brown haircut. The thick waves of hair contoured evenly around the outer sides of her heart-shaped face.

Both Ryder siblings gasped in unison. Sara brought up her hands to cover over her mouth and whispered in the state of complete disbelief, "Mom! It.. it's really her! Oh, my God, Scott! It's really her!"

The Asari doctor swiftly passed the human twins and came down to one knee beside the stasis pod. Lexi outstretched one of her hands to press two fingers together underside of Ellen's jaw and onto the side of her neck. Lexi motioned Sky forward and ordered in a hasty sound of voice, "Her pulse is steady but we shouldn't wait any longer. Please administer the Nano-nites, Sky." Doctor T'Perro drew back her hand to brace her weight upon the edge of the stasis pod's frame.

Sky slipped around the Ryder siblings to make an immediate approach toward the stasis pod, kneeling down beside the Asari medical officer, and outstretched his left hand to place upon Ellen's shoulder that was closest to him. He spoke softly, "I have administered the Nano-nites into her blood circulatory. The process will take an allotted time to fully repair the damage that has been done to the neurology network within her body."

Sara slowly moved her hands away from the lower half of her face and politely demanded, "She'll be cured, right? The disease.. won't come back will it?"

Lexi regained into a standing posture, spinning around to face Sara Ryder, and gestured a smile of joyful content.

"This Nanotechnology has complete regenerative properties that may, in fact, prevent the disease from making a comeback. This technology has the basis to also improve a person's immune system... it could even provide the Quarians a sustainable life without their environmental suits.. It's a damn shame Tann doesn't see it the way as I do for medical purposes." Lexi heavily sighed, "He's right about the reverse side of the coin. Anyway, Sky, go ahead and take Ellen out of the stasis pod. Be gentle."

Sky slipped both arms under the woman's body, gingerly scooping Ellen into his arms, and cradled her body against his chest.

The Pathfinder whipped his head back and forth taking glances over each shoulder and quietly proclaimed, "Fuck! I think someone is coming!" Scott whirled to face direction toward the end of the corridor as the sound of a humanoid's heavy treading footsteps swiftly paced into the general location of the Cryo Bay.

Doctor Harry Carlyle emerged at the end of the bay and suddenly became stricken with an astonished expression.

"Doctor T'Perro? Scott and Sara? What are you guys doing he-" Harry had cut himself short, quickly adverting his gaze onto the human woman in Sky's arms. "What are you guys doing?!" He continued forward and demanded, "Doctor T'Perro, are you the one who authorized for Elizabeth's release?! She's NOT scheduled to be revived from stasis! She's marked as terminally ill! We can't remove a terminally ill patient out of stasis! This is the main reason why Cryo Bay and the medical bay have been the only sections of the Ark to remain at full function."

Lexi came into the human doctor's way and offered an assuring smile with her reply, "Harry, it's alright! We've found a cure for her."

Doctor Carlyle shook his head and objected politely, "That's impossible, Lexi. We don't have the research or any source of information that has the prospects of a cure for the disease."

Doctor T'Perro respectfully urged, "We do, Harry. I can't discuss it here, though. Come with us to the Tempest and I'll explain."

Harry heavily sighed and raised one of his hands to rub the side of his forehead, "If what you say is true, Lexi, I must insist that Elizabeth remain here in the medical bay for the purpose of observing her condition whether it improves or not. She is still my patient and under my care. If the worst circumstance starts to arise then-"

"Mmm... Alec.. did I dose off again? You don't have to carry me to bed.." Ellen Ryder's murmur had abruptly stirred everyone's attention onto the human woman in Sky's arms.

Sara clasped a hand over her mouth and displayed a wide surprised look. She lowered her sound of voice into an excited whisper, "Mom! She's... oh, God! Scott!"

Harry expressed astonishment and quietly demanded, "Did she just say Alec? Wait a minute... is this who I think it is? Did Alec really... She's Ellen?!" The male doctor quickly shook his head to regain himself into a professional state, "Bring her this way! I need to have a look at her!" Doctor Carlyle spun on his heel and started the charge to return to the other end of the Cryo Bay.

The siblings raced at Sky's heel as the dark silver figure walked with swift and long careful strides. Doctor Lexi T'Perro kept pace with a hurried jog into the medical area.

Doctor Carlyle rounded one of the medical tables and raised a firm glare onto Sky. Harry inserted authority, "Here. Place her down here. Sam, can you get a full scan on her? I need to know if she is... Damn, I can't believe this."

Sky approached the medical table to gingerly splay the woman's backside upon the flat surface. He stepped back granting the Ryder twins to stand together at their mother's side.

Harry glared toward the human Pathfinder and demanded in a lowered tone, "Scott, did you know about this?!"

Scott shrugged, "I kind of wanted to keep it a secret from everyone. I was trying to save it as a surprise for Sara's birthday."

Doctor Carlyle disregarded for a response and raised his sight onto the monitor screen upon the medical table's headboard.

Ellen softly whispered, "Alec.. are you there? Can you get me a blanket?"

Sara Ryder slowly outstretched one of her hands to reluctantly place it upon Ellen's shoulder and whispered, "Mom..."

"Hmm.. Sara? Oh, it's you, dear.." Ellen tiredly murmured.

"Mom!" Scott blurted out and exchanged his astonishment between Lexi and Harry. "She can hear Sara!"

Ellen grumbled, "Scott? What are you.." The human woman slowly raised one of her hands toward her face to cover over a long yawn. "What are you talking about? Of course I can hear Sara... and you, for that matter. You don't need to be so loud."

Sara Ryder cried out in joyful bliss with tears running down her cheeks, "Mom! Oh, my God! Mom!" Sara swiftly sat down onto the edge of the medical table and wrapped her arms around her mother's torso.

Ellen Ryder slowly peeled her eyes open and looked down to the top of her daughter's head with a puzzled expression.

"Sara? What's going on?" Ellen paused for a long moment and nervously asked, "What is going on? I'm... not dead am I?"

Scott came into his mother's view with an overjoyed smile, expressing his thrill, "Mom! You're okay!"

Ellen Ryder slipped out of Sara's tight embrace, quickly placing her hands down onto the top of the table's surface, and gradually leveraged herself to prop into an upright sitting position. A gaped-surprised look covered the human woman's face as she shifted her focus onto each figure that stood around the table.

Sara sat upright upon the edge of the table, bringing up the back of one of her hands to wipe away her own tears, and quietly whimpered, "I can't believe that you're alright.. I've missed you so much, mom."

Ellen returned an anxious stare up to Scott and demanded, "Scott?! Sara?! Wh.. where are we?" Her gaze lowered to one of her arms. She hesitantly lifted her hand to gradually turn it over to look into her palm for a long moment and very slowly clenched her fingers into a fist before letting her fingers fully spread out. "I can move? I don't feel any pain.." Ellen Ryder slowly shook her head and muttered, "I don't understand."

Lexi fixated her gaze into the male doctor's surprised stare and motioned a nod toward the doorway. She momentarily glanced up to Sky, also signaling for him to leave the room with a gradual nod. Both Sky and the Asari paced around the medical table and walked with Doctor Carlyle to leave the room.

Scott dipped his head and murmured softly, "Mom, there's a lot to explain..."

.

.

Lamees' voice carried throughout the vast Meridian vault into an endless echo, "THIS IS AMAZING!" The corners of her orange red lips stretched into a wide smile up to Jaal Ama Darav, "I can't believe that my people built this! There are no words that can explain how exhilarating this is! The Jardaan were masters of construction but I had not fathomed that they could accomplish this." The female Jardaan lifted her head, quickly shifting her sight to glance all around the endless scale size of the vault.

Jaal swayed in his walk beside the Jardaan and corresponded, "This was a wonderful gift that the Jardaan have given to the Angara. We will forever be grateful." The Angaran Resistance Lieutenant stopped in his slow-pacing stride to make a glimpse around, overlooking the bridge crossings and areas above the ever shifting orange-colored electrical clouds that hovered just below the walking platforms. Prior returning his focus onto Lamees the male Angara added, "I'm forever grateful, Lamees." Jaal expressed an adoring smile across his smooth lips as he lowered his head to focus his stare into the Jardaan's large golden eyes.

Lamees bashfully grinned up to the purple-colored Angara and giggled, "You are being sweet, Jaal." She stood on tip-toe that offered as a slight height increase in order to plant a kiss on Jaal's lips.

Jaal wrapped his arms around the female Jardaan's waist in support of welcoming a deep kiss with Lamees. He slowly closed his blue starry eyes, giving his head a tilt to the side, and continued to share a tender kiss with Lamees for several moments until the Jardaan woman slowly broke away their kiss and reopened her large golden yellow eyes. The Angaran lifted his eyelids to meet into Lamees' stare once more.

"My heart sings, Lamees.." Jaal nervously trailed off.

The Jardaan anxiously whispered, "I sing for you, Jaal."

"If I had a stomach it would be singing up a verse of vomit." The deep robotic voice of Malvizon grumbled in disgust.

Lamees narrowed her eyes and quickly adverted her sight onto her left wrist. She scolded in a lowered agitated voice, "Malvizon, hush! Where did you learn your manners from? Don't tell me that you learned such a phrase from Gil... Oh, that skkut is going to-" The female Jardaan cleared her throat and flashed an embarrassed look up to Jaal, "Forgive Mal.. he chooses to express his opinion at the worst possible opportunity.. I adore his humor but.."

Jaal smiled, gently shaking his head, "I'm not offended, Lamees. I understand that Malvizon shares a symbiotic relationship, one cannot live without the other. That's just what makes you more special to me."

Lamees dus Conta smiled bashfully and gradually broke out of Jaal's embrace. She whirled her direction away from the patient Angara to start for the Remnant control console that stood upon the edge of the walking platform. She stopped in front of the console, looking out onto the raised platform that stood in the center of the room. The main hub of Meridian's systems were connected by hanging plate-covered wiring that draped from the ceiling's core matrix. The Jardaan lowered her head, returning her attention onto the Remnant's triangular shaped control console, and spoke aloud, "This world is the center control for all the viability for each of the habitable planets. I wonder if there is a data source that contains any information about where I can find out if the relics of reincarnation were moved to another location... Those relics will serve as an insight into the past for the Angara to understand their purpose of creation."

Jaal came up directly behind Lamees and wrapped his arms around her waist in an embracing manner. He soothed lovingly, "The Angara need only understand that the Jardaan have given to us a vast galaxy to explore and worlds, of our choosing, to flourish upon. It's in our own lesson to learn, in this present time, by accepting the consideration into the gifts and tools that we were provided with. We each must find our own sense of purpose and where it fits into the grand scale instead of resorting back to wondering why we were created."

Lamees slowly closed her eyes and leaned the back of her head into Jaal's chest, relaxing her posture into the Angaran's embrace.

"You are as wise as you are kind, darling Jaal. History is an important aspect for both of our people to glimpse upon the past mistakes and the hardships that we have endured to come thus far. The Angara can use the foundation of Jardaan knowledge to build upon and advance. The Tehet have, unfortunately, set back the ascended race from the progression that my people would have anticipated. This present is what it is and I am going to enjoy it with you, Jaal." The Jardaan stepped forward, pulling out of Jaal's embrace, and whirled around to face the Angaran Resistance Lieutenant. She outstretched both of her hands behind her to place upon the surface of the Remnant control console in order to brace her weight as Jaal stepped forward, bringing up both of his hands to cup either sides of Lamees' smooth face, and welcomed a tender kiss. Lamees and Jaal shared their smooth lips together and paid no regard to the green glowing orb hovering above the wrist plate as the symbiotic artificial intelligence had silently established a connection into Meridian's mainframe systems.